Video Output resolution

sorry to bother you all with what is probably a fairly basic question. i have a minidv camcorder and have just edited it with the software it came with (imagemixer VCD). Its all fine but the resolution isn't exactly hollywood worthy. it seems like the image is being captured at 320 x 240. i've edited it into an MPEG-1 to make a VCD.

and so to the question(s):

1. does imagemixer only capture at 320 x 240?
2. do MPEG1(s) have to be 320 x 240?
3. are all VCDs 320 x 240?

this is all mystifying to a newbie. one other thing...assuming that imagemixer isn't great because it came free, what is a good budget editing package?

i guess the problem is with the encoding software. i think i'll buy a dvd writer drive and start making mpeg 2s to burn onto dvds. if i understand this correctly then that should improve the quality of the picture dramatically.

If you have a minDV you should be capturing via firewire at 720*576 (PAL) and it should be a .avi file at 25mbs which means a one hour video file will take up about 11 Gigs of hard disk space, you should find the quality is as the orginal as it is a data dump or copy of the stored data on the miniDV tape.

I think you need to invest in some more slighlty better NLE (Non-Linear-Editing) software, try ULEAD video studio as an inroduction upto medium skill level then you can step up to more 'pro' softare like FCP or Adobe Premier and or Vegas 4.

If you really want to start basic and have XP why not try using the free windows movie maker it allows you to connect your miniDV (via firewire) and will allow some nice edinting and cuts fades ad title and then burn to CD or transfer back to miniDV or encode a vdideo file in .wmv